U of Minn. sick of Red Bull marketing attacks, cancels contract

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The University of Minnesota is currently under a pretty strict "Coke only" contract on campus, which only allows Gatorade and Red Bull soft drinks to be sold in addition to Coca Cola products. When Red Bull kept breaking their contract with the school, they got the boot.

The University ended their contract with Red Bull Oct. 9 after the company "repeatedly violated parts of the agreement prohibiting them from marketing the drink on campus," according to the Minnesota Daily.

Thinking back to our days on campus, we think we know exactly what was going on. During midterms or finals, you were almost guaranteed to run into the Red Bull street team, carting around coolers full of free Red Bull to give to already over-caffeinated college students. Coke isn't down with that, but we sure were. We'd like to credit Red Bull for saving us during a couple evening finals that would have likely put us to sleep otherwise.

Students could also buy Red Bull at three locations on campus.

More from the MN Daily:

Red Bull was unwilling to comment on its marketing strategies for "proprietary" reasons, Belongia said in an e-mail.

The University makes $38 million overall from its agreement with Coca-Cola, exceeding its previous contract by $23 million.

"You either bought a Red Bull or you bought a Full Throttle [another energy drink]," Bowman said, adding students probably made their choice once they saw what was available, not because they knew Red Bull was being sold.